Thanks, Dad
by PitchHabrosus34
Summary: Valentine, Inc.'s next mission is to get Noah Mayer and Luke Spencer back together.
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks, Dad**

_Chapter 1_

Phoebe dipped a hand into the Oracle while surrounded by her Valentine, Inc. colleagues. The Oracle started bubbling.

"Our client is Noah Mayer," Phoebe explained. "He's an aspiring filmmaker in Hollywood. He was previously living in Oakdale, Illinois. There, he had a boyfriend named Luke Spencer, born Luciano Grimaldi. Luke was Noah's first boyfriend and their relationship endured so much: Noah's father's disapproval, a fake marriage, the pressures of a student election, potential temptations, Noah's temporary blindness. There were some things that their relationship couldn't endure. Most recently, Luke fell in love with a doctor who treated Noah, and then died. Luke was grieving and Noah moved here to begin his career. There was hope of a rekindled romance, but that hasn't happened yet. We must get Noah and Luke back together," Phoebe concluded. "If we don't, Luke will suffer through series of failed relationships and Noah will never find anyone who will make him as happy as Luke made him. There's someone else. His name is Dusty Donovan. He's going to be very important, and we need to get Noah to Oakdale as soon as possible because of him."

Three days later, Grace met with Noah.

"I have to say, this is a very generous offer," Noah said.

"Well, I know you prefer to focus on movies, so I added an incentive. The additional compensation to your company should give you plenty of latitude."

"Yes, but this much for commercials?"

"I'm sure you're worth every cent. When can you start?"

"I just need a few days to wrap some things up with my current project."

"Excellent," Grace answered. "I'd like to shoot the commercials in Illinois. Do you think you can make your way over there by Monday night?"

"Sure, but we need to discuss how everything will look so I can make sure we're set there."

"Nonsense, we can worry about that when we get there. Sometimes you don't know what the Muses want from you until you're in the moment."

"Oh, all right. Where in Illinois?"

"A city named Oakdale. Have you heard of it?"

"Y-Yes. Yes, I have," Noah stammered out.

* * *

Noah was already starving when he arrived at the hotel. As soon as he finished unpacking, he rushed to the coffee bar where he used to work.

"Noah!"

Noah turned as he was walking out and saw Luke, who, after a moment's hesitation, gave him an awkward hug.

"Hey, I meant to call you before. It's been a crazy week," Noah said.

"So here you are."

"Yeah, someone hired me to shoot a series of commercials here in Oakdale. She said the atmosphere reminded her of where she grew up."

"Wait, you're not here because of Dusty Donovan?"

"No. What's going on with Dusty?"

"Kidney infection. It's a bit similar to mine, but he went downhill really fast."

"Is he getting a transplant?"

"He's on the waitlist. He's been at the hospital for about a week now, if you want to visit him."

Noah's phone rang.

"It's Grace. Hey, I did mean to give you a heads up, and I do want to catch up with you . . ."

"I understand. Now, go take care of this Grace person."

Luke entered the coffee bar and Noah answered his phone.

"Hi, Grace."

"Noah! I just wanted to check in with you. Are you in Illinois yet?"

"Yes, I'm pretty much settled in Oakdale now, actually."

"Fabulous. Kate Providence will be there tonight. She'll be our spokeswoman."

"Is she a romance novelist?"

"Yes; you've heard of her."

"Just a little bit."

"She'll be happy to hear that. Now, my assistant told me there is a nice café called Moyer's."

"Yeah, I know that café."

"How about you and Kate meet there tomorrow at 8:30?"

"Sure, I'll see her then."

"Great. And I will be in Oakdale tomorrow night."

Later, Noah visited Dusty in the hospital. An upbeat young woman greeted him.

"Hi! I'm Phoebe. This is my first day!"

"Hi . . . Noah."

"Pleasure to meet you!"

Phoebe shook Noah's hand and promptly left.

"Noah," Dusty finally said. "Who squealed about my condition? I didn't want to be a distraction and make you come here."

"No one squealed. I came back to Oakdale to do some shooting. It's the first project I'm heading and Luke mentioned your kidneys. Have you been looking for a donor?"

"No one's a match yet."

"Well, we're the same blood type. Let's try me out. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"The chances are going to be slim, so let's skip that. Like I said, I didn't want to distract you and you said you came here to work."

"It's a simple procedure."

"No," Dusty said.

"It's the least I can do. You're the only friend I've ever had here outside of Luke's social circle. That means something to me."

Dusty finally relented and Noah gave a doctor a DNA sample, with Phoebe in attendance.

Noah met Kate the next day.

"So, out of curiosity, did Grace get you involved in advertising or was this something you became interested in?" Noah asked.

"Oh, Grace definitely brought me into this," Kate answered. "She figured someone with my background would be a good face for her new perfume, and she's very convincing."

Noah chuckled. "Yes, she is. Have you been working with Grace for a while, now?"

"Not very long, but I've gotten to know her well."

"Oh, that's good. She left much of the art and set direction to me, but I don't know what she likes. Has she discussed the backdrop of the commercials?"

"Well, I think she's very flexible," Kate said hesitantly, realizing she was under-prepared.

"She told me that you would play a woman admiring different men and then once you found someone you really liked, you whipped out the perfume."

"Yes."

"If you're the only actor, I guess these will have to be pictures, or something, maybe on the internet. You could be preparing for something from an online dating service."

"Sure, that'll work."

"You don't seem to sure."

"I am," Kate quickly said, trying to laugh.

"So you don't know what Grace likes? How about in general?"

"Well, she does seem fond of her ancestry."

"Where's she from?"

"Greece."

Noah sat silently for a few seconds.

"I got it. You could be looking at statues."

"I think that's a great idea," Kate responded.

Noah and Kate continued to discuss the commercials until Noah took a break for the bathroom and coffee.

"Phoebe," Kate said to her phone.

"Just calling in. We're almost set here."

"That might have to wait. Noah and I started talking about the commercials and we've settled on some things, but Noah needs to make some calls and do some traveling to pick up some statues."

"No, he has to come to the hospital very soon! Aren't there statues at a Walmart nearby?"

"He said with the budget Grace set, the statues should be really good."

Noah came back to the table at that moment.

"A friend just happened to call me. We were talking about this project and she mentioned she can borrow some antique Greek statues," Kate told Noah while Phoebe stayed on the line.

"Oh, that's great. Anything we can see beforehand?"

"Tell him we'll ship a statue to him," Phoebe said. "I'll get Leo to take care of it." She then hung up.

"A statue?" Danny asked Leo.

"It needs to be Greek and authentic," Leo replied.

"It's going to be a pain to move any of the statues here."

"I can take care of that."

"What about putting it back?"

Leo frowned.

"Dad," Danny simply said.

* * *

Noah entered Dusty's hospital room.

"Noah," a doctor there said. "I'll leave you two alone."

"Thanks, doctor," Dusty quickly said.

Noah started to look concerned. "What is it?"

"We're a match."

"That's great. I know you don't want to pull me away from work, but this is your health we're talking about." Noah noticed Dusty was slightly nervous. "What is it?"

"One of the technicians messed up. She accidentally put in an order for a paternity test."

"What is it?"

"You're my son. I told the doctor it was a mistake, so he ran the tests again. You're still my son."

Noah and Dusty remained silent for nearly a minute, looking at each other.

"You knew my mother for a while . . ."

"Yes."

"And you two . . ."

"Yes."

Noah started laughing.

* * *

Author's note: Thank you for reading. I can't take credit for the paternity idea. I first read it at Television Without Pity's forums. I've been taking a lot of ideas from there lately.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks, Dad**

_Chapter 2_

Danny and Leo snuck around Ari's mansion.

"That's a good one," Danny pointed out. "Uncle Apollo."

"Are you sure you don't want to just ask your dad? If Noah likes the statue, we're going to need more."

"Yeah, I'm sure. We just need to satisfy Noah with this one statue. This will buy us time to buy others."

The two waited for a guard to pass.

"I'll take care of the distraction," Danny said before running around behind a group of bushes. "Ca-caw!" Danny cried in a falsetto voice. "Ca-caw!" He noticed that his noises elicited frowns, but no action. Danny rolled his eyes. "Hey! I'm an intruder!" he yelled before sprinting away from the mansion.

As soon as the guards abandoned their posts to chase Danny, Leo ran towards the statue, lifted it, and dashed off with it.

At the Snyder household the next morning, Luke and Noah sat around the dining room table in silence, trying to absorb news about Dusty. Holden and Lily stood nearby, also in silence, after welcoming Noah and overhearing the conversation.

"This isn't . . . exactly . . . bad news," Luke finally said.

"I know. I never thought of it as bad news. I mean, I could even see it as good news."

"Are you going to tell . . . the Colonel?" Holden asked.

"I don't know yet."

"Do you think he knows?" Lily asked.

"I doubt it."

A call broke another round of silence.

"It's Grace," Noah said. "Hello?"

"Noah! Good morning."

"Hi, Grace."

"Kate's filled me in on everything, and I loved your ideas."

"That's great. Oh, I wanted to tell you that someone did me a huge favor and secured a space to shoot the commercials at the WOAK-TV studio." Noah smiled at Lily.

"Fabulous. I'll get the statue sent over there. It should be in Illinois by now."

"Wow, that's quick."

"I'm sure you've already noticed how very differently I work."

Noah laughed until a realization struck him. "Grace, I just realized something. Can we meet sometime today?"

Noah covered the phone and whispered to go. "I have to go. One of these days, we're going to sit down for a real meal."

Luke smiled and nodded.

* * *

Danny was surprised to see his dad at the door.

"Hey, dad."

"Hey to you, too, son." Ari proceeded into the mansion. "I must say, I was surprised that you and Leo were able to get away with the statue with so little fuss and mess."

"Uhhh . . . thanks?"

"Are you aware of the story behind the statue? The sculptor?"

"No, is it interesting?"

"Actually . . . no, but it is a very valuable piece of my collection. Quite frankly, it's also one of the best representations of your uncle that I've seen."

"Dad . . ."

"You could have asked for it. I would have lent it to you and shipped it to wherever it needed to go."

"I know."

"Then why the theft?"

"Because you don't approve of the work we're doing here. I didn't want to ask you for help doing it."

"Well, it is true that I don't support this love business . . ." Ari sighed and put a hand around the right side of Danny's neck. "I know I'm not the best father I could be and I certainly wish you were spending your time with my work rather than your mother's, but I do and will support you."

Ari leaned in to look Danny in the eyes and Danny nodded.

"Do make sure the statue gets returned unscathed, please."

"Yes, dad."

"I think your uncle is rather fond of it too, now that I think about it. Now, have you had breakfast yet?"

"Of course not."

"Good. Join me."

Grace and Noah sat on a bench near WOAK.

"Dusty's adamant about the procedure not interfering with my work, but I see how difficult everything is with him now," Noah informed Grace.

"I understand how important family is, Noah. And I can't imagine the emotions you must be having after this discovery. It's all right if you want to postpone everything."

"One of the doctors said that recovery will take weeks. Heavy lifting and strenuous activity would be bad ideas, but they'll encourage me to walk around a lot."

Grace realized where Noah was trying to aim the conversation. "I admire your professionalism, Noah. I think I can get an assistant here to handle all the equipment, at your direction. Tell him where to put everything, where to point the camera, and he can do it."

"It would be nice to have something to do during my recovery. Something light."

"Good. Now, do you have someone to help you out? I can hire someone for that."

"Umm, I think there's someone I can ask. He might be able to help me. Luke."

"How do you know him?"

"We used to date."

"Oh, I hope that won't be awkward."

"No, no. We're still good friends."

"Well, in that case, you should definitely ask him and bring him along to our shoots. Maybe your past romance will bring some inspiration."

Later, Luke was walking out a shop when he bumped into Kate.

"Excuse me," Luke said.

"It was my fault, sorry. I'm always a klutz when I'm visiting new places. I get so disoriented. I just came to do some filming for commercials."

"Oh, you must be working with Noah."

"Yes. You know him?"

"Yeah, I do."

"He's so brave and professional. He's going to be shooting so soon after surgery despite all the help he'll need." Kate then walked off, while Luke called Noah.

"She's making you work?" Luke soon asked.

"No, I wanted to work. Someone else is going to do all the heavy lifting, literally, so I'll be fine."

"Are you serious?"

"They said I should be active after surgery, just lightly active. I could use some help every now and then, though."

"We've always been there for each other in these cases. There's nothing that's going to stop me this time, either."

"I was going to ask first if you might be free or if you're busy with your foundation work."

"I have plenty of time for you."

"Thanks, Luke."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks, Dad**

_Chapter 3_

Noah noticed Luke immediately when he opened his eyes after surgery.

"Hey," Luke said.

"Hey," Noah slowly replied. "How's Dusty?"

"So far so good."

"Good."

"So, now we can finally have that talk," Luke suggested, smiling.

Noah chuckled slightly. "You were telling me before that your foundation is doing very well. A couple new allies?"

"Yeah, they'll be a lot of help when we do outreach projects."

"Great."

"So how's Hollywood?"

"It's nice. It's intense."

"And work?"

"It's good, too. I've done a lot of work that I'm proud of. And this, this is definitely out there. It's a good experience, I think. I didn't think I would get to take the lead and do so much this soon."

"Meet anyone nice out in California?"

"No."

"Why not?" Luke asked.

Noah didn't answer. He looked at Luke expectantly.

"Have you met anyone since I left?" Noah finally asked.

"Nope. I've been waiting for you."

"I've been waiting for us to get back together, too. I mean, I'll admit, when I was out there, I was starting to wonder if we would ever be in the same state again. I didn't know if I should hold out for us, if what we've been saying was supposed to stick."

"I was thinking the same thing, and I couldn't come up with an answer." Luke smiled after a pause in the conversation. "I'm glad you're back, even if it's just for these commercials. These mini-episodes of a woman looking for love."

"I know, it's like our first project together with Maddie."

Luke leaned in and kissed Noah's forehead.

Two days later, Luke helped Noah to a large room in the WOAK studio with green wallpaper on three of the walls. A series of statues were placed in two lines.

"Those are some nice statues," Luke commented.

"Glad you like them," Leo said nearby. "They're all in the same style as the sample. Same material, too." Leo approached and shook Noah's and Luke's hands. Danny followed.

Shooting soon began with Kate on a fake balcony looking down onto the green screen.

Grace approached Luke during the filming.

"You must be Luke Snyder," Grace said as she took Luke's hand and shook it. "Grace Valentine."

"Nice to meet you," Luke replied.

"You're such a good friend for helping Noah after his surgery." Grace looked at Luke expectantly. "Or are you more than that?"

Luke suddenly looked nervous. "It's . . . complicated."

"Well, I won't pry. Has Noah told you about the plans for these commercials?"

"Yeah, I think it's great."

"He seems so natural at romance."

"Yeah, he's very creative."

"What about you?"

"Nah, not compared to him."

"Well, I'm sure you have some nice ideas yourself for romance. What do you think would be an absolutely romantic meal?"

"Just off the top of my head?" Luke asked, smiling.

"Just an idea of one. It doesn't have to be your ideal or anything personal."

"How about . . . a picnic in a secluded park near a waterfall, on a warm day with some sun, but not too much. Just a quiet moment with me and my boyfriend, except with all the waterfall noise, of course."

"Sounds lovely."

Grace called for a meeting as the day's shooting wrapped up.

"Unfortunately," Grace began, "our researchers have concluded that two of our chemicals are allergens for a significant proportion of our market."

"Why are they just discovering this now?" Kate asked.

"They believe it's related to the seasonal changes and sensitivities. We can't carry a product that people can use only part of the year, so we're abandoning this perfume."

"That's a shame," Noah said. "Why stop production because of two chemicals?"

"They're what makes our perfume unique. If we removed or replaced them, we wouldn't be different enough to penetrate the market," Grace answered.

"So the commercials are off?" Luke asked.

"I spoke to our partners at length about this topic. We're not doing the commercials anymore. Instead, we're doing a short film."

Noah and Luke both looked confused, while the members of Valentine, Inc. tried their best to also look confused by information they already knew.

"We're cutting our losses with the perfume, but we don't want to cut our losses with the shooting, so we're going to fund a short film with money re-allocated from the perfume and hope that we can use it later on for cross-promotions. It'll mark an important foray into a new industry. That means we need a more substantial plot and more time. Noah, can you continue working with us?"

"Yeah, sure, I can do that."

"Good. So, we have so far a woman looking at statues and finally choosing one that captures her attention. Now what? Any ideas?"

"We've already put together an Ancient Greek setting," Danny offered. "We should keep it."

"All right, what if the woman is looking for a human who was turned to stone by Medusa?" Noah suggested. "She walks around some statues and finally finds the victim among real statues. Then she does something to turn him back into flesh and rekindle their romance."

Grace beamed. "Noah, that's fantastic! Didn't I say you'd be worth every cent?"

"I love the idea," Kate added.

"Luke, you had a nice idea for a romantic meal earlier. Why don't you tell us what it was?"

"Oh," Luke said, smiling bashfully. "It's nothing. I just thought a picnic by a waterfall in a secluded park would be a nice romantic thing to do, especially if it's mostly sunny."

"I like it. It's great," Noah said.

"Yeah?" Luke questioned.

"I would have liked doing that with you."

Luke appeared to gush, making Grace smile widely.

"Anything you would have added to that, Noah?"

Noah considered the question briefly. "Maybe make it a dinner picnic and then watch the sunset together, maybe lie down to watch the sky afterward."

"Then it's settled," Grace said. "Let's take the next two days off from shooting for script development and getting an actor. I'll have an assistant put out a call for auditions the day after tomorrow."

"How does someone reverse another person getting turned into stone by Medusa?" Kate asked.

No one seemed to know.

"Phoebe might know," Leo said. "I'll ask her tonight."

Noah visited Dusty later in the day to update each other on their progresses.

"That's great," Dusty told Noah. "Have you ever considered basing yourself in Chicago?"

"Briefly, but I figured Hollywood would be a better starting point."

"And now you've started, so how does Chicago look now?"

Noah shrugged.

"Wasn't the last Transformers movie partially shot in Chicago? And most of The Dark Knight?"

"Yeah, but I can't just pack up and move everything."

"You could start a new, small production company."

"That requires a lot more capital than I have."

"Not more than what I have, though. Hardly a fraction of it."

"What are you saying?" Noah asked.

"I want to help you."

"I can't ask that of you."

"You're not asking. I'm offering."

"Because you're my dad?"

"And because I'm the only friend you've had here outside of Luke's social circle. I think either of these reasons alone is enough."

"I don't know what to say."

"How about 'Thanks' and "I'll make good movies?'"

Noah smiled. "Thanks a lot. I'll make good movies."

"You're welcome."

Noah worked on the script the next day with Luke, Grace, Kate, and Danny.

"If we leave a little room for improvisation, we're all set except for the scene where Kate turns the guy back into flesh," Noah said.

"I did some research on that," Luke said. "I couldn't find anything."

"Phoebe didn't know," Leo said.

"There were two sources, obscure sources, that identified a solution," a voice said. Everyone turned and saw Ari. "The blood from one of the veins from her neck," Ari finished, as he pulled out a vial of blood.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Danny asked. Like his colleagues, he was surprised.

"Phoebe asked me about Medusa, so I thought I'd drop by with some help."

"Do you have the citation for those sources?" Luke asked Ari.

"Oh, who needs citations? You're making a fictional movie; you can make your own rules." Ari handed the vial to Noah.

"Thanks," Noah said.

Ari nodded before departing. The meeting continued and Luke contributed to writing the transformation scene.

Later, Luke drove Noah to a park.

"What are we doing here?" Noah asked.

"Grace's suggestion. She thought it'd be nice to play out the date scene to make sure it'll work. Maybe for other reasons, too, but I didn't want to refuse. She had already made dinner for us herself."

Noah later told Luke about Dusty's gift.

"You're moving to Chicago, then?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I didn't know how to refuse. Plus, it's not far away. I can see Dusty more now. And you."

"You want that? The last part?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I was thinking about what you said when you woke up from surgery. I don't know if what we said was supposed to stick when you left Oakdale, but that doesn't matter. I want to get back together with you. That's what matters. I want to be your boyfriend again."

Noah leaned in and kissed Luke on the lips.

Within three weeks, the short film was completed, Dusty had been discharged from the hospital for outpatient care, and Noah began his move back to Illinois, with Luke helping every step of the way.

"They're going to be very happy together," Phoebe concluded.

After hearing the good news from Phoebe, Danny visited Ari.

"Noah said that not even short films get developed and shot so quickly. Anyway, Leo said the blood in the vial was real blood, that it probably was the actual Medusa's blood," Danny said.

"Well, I thought it was necessary for production," Ari said. "Besides, it's not like there was much use for it anymore."

"You made a trip overnight for us, on very short notice, when Noah could make whatever rules he wanted about Medusa. Why did you do that?"

"Like I said, I might not support this business you're in, but I do support you." Ari poured out some liquor.

"Care for something to drink?"

"Thanks, dad."

* * *

The end. Thanks for reading!


End file.
